goodbye, goodbye, and new beginnings

Hubs and I are currently staying in the house I grew up in, unchaperoned, for the next couple of days until we make our way up to the wedding site.  To be honest, I have never before stayed, unchaperoned, in my parent's house and I have DEFINITELY never stayed, unchaperoned in my parent's house with a MAN.  Yes, yes, I know that he and I will soon be forever joined by holy matrimony (six days, to be exact) but I still feel a bit, well, naughty.

I have some health things to take care of while here (a cortisone injection for a rogue hip joint-an injury I incurred a few years ago when I seemed to be in training for some marathon-ian type adventure or other for no reason) and as I write this I am sitting at my parent's kitchen table smarting from this afternoon's wounds.  Oddly enough, for the first time in my adult life I believe the doctor 'operating' on me was YOUNGER than I.  Literally, he looked about 20.  I had Doogie Howser injecting my hip joint with a giant, radioactive needle.  And this Doogie had no sense of humor:

"Have you had an injection like this before?"-dr. childface

"Well, yes.  I had one in January.  I'm actually a pro by now. "-desperate housediva

"Well, I don't think so-your previous injection was with a contrast agent, and this is different."-dr. childface

"Uh, yeah.  Okay.  (so why did you ask?)"-desperate housediva

When being impaled by giant hypodermic needles I find humor to be a good coping mechanism for avoiding fainting spells.  Apparently, dr. childface disagrees with my methods.  Let's just hope his methods of injection were more effective than my attempts at humor and I am  footloose and pain-free on my wedding day.

When I stay at my parents house I usually like to eat one of 4 meals for dinner.  Last night, in preparation for today's medical ordeal, we prepared one of my mom's most wonderful and comforting dishes:  Chinese Chicken.  Yes, descriptive, I know.  It really is a FANTASTICALLY delicious stirfry and you can use just about any veggies you like in addition to the green peppers (last night we added broccoli and mushrooms)  In honor of family secrets, I am going to give you a slightly different version of this recipe.  It's AMAZING and you should all make it (with some short grain brown rice) tomorrow.

SUE'S CHINESE CHICKEN

chicken

3 Tbsp Soy sauce

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp grated ginger

2 green peppers, cut into squares

2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breasts (cut into thin strips)

1/3 cup walnut halves

cooking sauce

1/2 tsp. cornstarch

dash of tabasco (or some red chili flakes)

2.5 tsp sugar or honey

3 tsp rice wine vinegar

3 tsp dry sherry or water

3 Tbsp soy sauce

combine these to make cooking sauce, set aside, then:

In a bowl combine chicken with soy sauce and cornstarch, set aside.  Heat oil in wok over high heat add chicken and cook, stirring until opaque (about 2 minutes)  Remove from pan.  

Add pepper, and ginger to pan, stirring until pepper is bright green (tendercrisp.)  

Add chicken back in to pan and cook until no longer pink.  Add cooking sauce, stir until thick, add walnuts, serve.

Enjoy!!!